Review of game Shovel Knight by Chandler Wang

 Shovel Knight is an indie retro platformer about a knight and his trusty shovel, on a quest to stop an order of evil knights. You traverse through unique levels designed around each knight, and can collect items along the journey to give you new abilities and powers. It has a great soundtrack, cool designs, charming attention to detail, and fun gameplay. Each world has a distinct theme that makes it interesting, whether it be in a royal castle, a chemical-filled lab, an arctic landscape, or an underground cavern bubbling with lava. The gameplay is unique, as you run and jump across obstacles, but can also bounce atop enemies or simply whack them with your trusty shovel. There are lots of interesting, unique mechanics, such as being able to break checkpoints for extra gold if you have the confidence. An imposing knight stands at the end of each level, and they are as unique as their stages. It's somewhat similar to Mega Man, with each knight being very clearly based around something, which is evident just in their names: King Knight, Plague Knight, Polar Knight, and Propeller Knight, to name a few. This theme gives each of their fights a distinct feel, and gives each boss some character. Each fight against the knights is unique, and many of them have interesting moves or interactions that really show off the thought the developers put into their game. Shovel Knight is a very solid game with great music and cool designs, and puts a little extra effort in everything from buying items to fighting bosses, adding a lot of charm to the game. It's a classic-feeling pixel platformer that's very solid all-around and has a lot of detail put into the game. 9/10.